Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Topps UFC Knockout. An All About Cards review.

If a company took the best hit cards from several different popular releases and combined them into one new package, what would you have? You would have Topps UFC Knockout, some very happy MMA card collectors, and perhaps some secretly jealous collectors who don't already follow the sport.

This set falls comfortably into our Premium cards classification because of their high hit ratio and premium feel. But you wouldn’t know it based on the price. For close to what you would pay for a single box of Topps Triple Threads, you get this hobby box of UFC Knockout that contains 8 mini boxes, the equivalent of 4 Triple Threads boxes. That is just one of the elements that makes this product highly desirable while remaining more accessible to the common collector. With an Auto or Memorabilia Card in each mini box, you should pull 2 Autograph Relics, 2 Autograph and 4 Relic cards per box.

Lets look at the cards we pulled from our Hobby box before I get into details of how we feel about this set of cards.

Fighter Autos - Forrest Griffin to 188 and Nate Diaz to 88

Tito Ortiz Triple Thread Auto Relic to 18. Hard to tell from the scan, but up close it definitely looks match worn.

The great thing about these mat relic cards is they state on the back exactly where they were used. The Matt Hughes cards are from UFC 63 and the Gray Maynard card is from UFN 19.

The detail on this Nate Marquardt relic is amazing

This Dan Sayers Auto is on card.

We will be looking forward to this Chris Leben card, which will be from the insert set, illustrated next to the redemption card. We did not pull that BJ Penn card.

Overall Look

These are some great looking cards. The base cards put you right into the action and have that premium feel. In our box, the cards had some of the best cutting we seen from Topps. The colors are aggressive and design is bold, just what you want from an MMA card. Topps carries the theme of the Octogon through out the entire set. From the packaging to the numbering, the attention to detail here is nice.

Quality and Variety of Players

At 150 fighters, you can’t do much better. The names you want are all represented here. That carries through from the base set to the inserts. You’ll even find UFC Ring Girls autograph cards. Enough said.

Do the Hits satisfy? Are the cards too base heavy?

You bet these cards satisfy. With the variety of different relic materials and great autos, this is a fantastic product to break. Even the base cards come with enough parallel numbered versions to keep it interesting. And it didn't hurt that we pulled an extra hit out of this box.

Will it keep you coming back for more?

At first look, it was almost as if this box had been packaged for Costco. 8 mini boxes? That’s insane. But as you open the product, you quickly realize this is not just quantity, its quality. And even now, I’m ready for more. This is an amazing value that will have UFC collectors buying them again and again.